NHL: Buffalo Sabres at Carolina Hurricanes - Source: Imagn

Sabres' Playoff Drought: Buffalo extends stay on wrong side of NHL history with 14th straight year of missing postseason

Modified Apr 09, 2025 05:03 GMT

Postseason misery continued this year for the Buffalo Sabres, who are once again on the outside looking in at the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

With their latest failure, the Sabres have extended their streak of futility into a 14th consecutive year; they are now tied with the NFL's New York Jets for the longest streak outside of a playoff appearance.

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“We have work to do. We have work to do as a team, establishing the way we need to play, the way we need to manage the puck night in, night out, shift after shift,” coach Lindy Ruff said via TheAthletic.com. “To become a better team, you have to take every period, every game you’re playing right now and use it as a stepping stone.

“We know where we’re at. I’m disappointed with where we’re at. We can’t do anything about that, but we can work on our game. And we’re going to continue to work on our game until it’s over,” he added.

Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin admitted that he was "pissed" about the streak of futility continuing but that it may be best for the franchise long term.

“It’s mixed emotions for sure. Pissed that we started to play good now. It’s too late. But also, it’s good that we can see we can play good hockey and we can beat any team in this league. I guess we have to build for next year and this is how you do it. This is the right way to do it,” Dahlin said.

The Sabres may have won 10 of their last 13 games – including a 3-0 shutout win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday – but it ultimately proved to be too little, too late for them.

What went wrong for Buffalo this season?

After losing their first three games of the season, the Sabres rebounded and entered the Thanksgiving Holiday with an 11-9-1 record. But then, things completely fell apart as they lost 13 consecutive games; they went exactly one month without a single victory.

While there were numerous calls for General Manager Kevyn Adams to make some kind of change to shake up the roster and inject life into the franchise, he decided against it.

The Sabres aren't strong on special teams, as both their penalty killing and power play units are in the bottom 1/3 of all 32 NHL clubs.

Despite strong offensive seasons from top line forwards Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch, the Sabres' goaltending tandem of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and James Reimer combined for the second-worst save percentage in the NHL.

As a team, the Sabres have also taken the most penalty minutes in the NHL with 800.

About the author

Michael Whitaker is a sports journalist based in metro Detroit with nearly a full decade of experience with publications like Detroit Sports Nation, Hockey Feed, Clutch Points and Bally Sports Detroit. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism from Eastern Michigan University.

Michael grew up playing ice hockey and now plays casually, and he supports his childhood team, the Detroit Red Wings. His favorite sporting moment was the Red Wings giving an injured Vladimir Konstantinov the Stanley Cup in his wheelchair following the 1998 win, on his birthday of June 16.

Michael has conducted exclusive interviews with former Detroit Red Wings trainer John Wharton, as well as four-time Stanley Cup champion Kirk Maltby.

In his spare time, Michael enjoys concerts, sporting events, visiting the gym, and playing with his 8-year-old labradoodle Gordie.

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